gremlin wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2026 8:51 am
Count Steer wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2026 6:58 am
So, is the Eye worth the effort?
IMO, probably not.
If high vantage points are your thing there are umpteen other places in the City that can give you that.
For what it's worth, I always point forrin colleagues towards an official London walking tour to get an intimate view of London.
A colleague of my missus retired early and trained as a London tour guide, specialising in the City churches (Hawksmoor, Wren and all that). He took just the 2 of us on a practice run - it was excellent. One discovery that he introduced us to, that I've used several times and impressed a few with my local knowledge
, is a rather good café in the crypt of one of them - good lunch type food as well as coffee.
Re vantage points, I missed the chance to go up the PO Tower back in the 60s and never actually got to get up there - even when I worked round the corner some years later.
Another little gem, although it's only 5th floor, is the restaurant in Waterstones, Piccadilly* in the old Simpsons art deco building. (Biggest bookshop in Europe apparently). Get in early and bag a window seat.
Not London but someone told me that the best 'free' view of the Bosphorus, day and night, was the bar in (iirc) the Marmara Hotel on Taksim Square in Istanbul. So we popped in for a cocktail or two. Good tip.
Not sure that it was called the Marmara at the time.
Had a Canary Wharf office with a view of the dome thingy and London City airport for a while. Much gazing out of the window was achieved.
* Bradford Waterstones in the old Wool Exchange is another one worth visiting for the building alone.
that' list?
that' list?
).
